


Riding the Line

by Ladyhawk_lhflu



Series: Bijou [1]
Category: Stargate - All Series, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: BDSM, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-02
Updated: 2015-06-02
Packaged: 2018-04-02 11:12:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4057852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ladyhawk_lhflu/pseuds/Ladyhawk_lhflu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What is Rodney to do when John is too busy to be his?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Riding the Line

**Author's Note:**

> This is a 'slice of life' in a much bigger body of work. Why am I posting it first? Because it's the latest to show up, when I actually have time to post. So here is the backstory needed: John and Rodney have been in a relationship for 4 years. It has always been BDSM based. They married two years ago.

Rodney looked at his watch with a sigh. It was 19:00, usually time to go home to his quarters, and his husband. But unlike most days, this time he wasn't sure if he should bother. John was probably still off training new recruits, a whole slew of new recruits, because the SGC was short a few instructors. To make matters worse, if he wasn't training, he was sleeping. He was often too tired to give Rodney more than a mumbled hello when Rodney came in and kissed him on the cheek.

Suddenly, Rodney found himself in an odd, unfamiliar position. Wanting, but unable to go to John for...well, Rodney didn't know exactly what he wanted. Sex, love, submission..all of the above? Yes, all of the above. 

Without John having his back, Rodney felt out of control. John had always been his anchor. But he had promised..John needed a break from the pressures of...of Rodney. Of being a sub, of being a husband. John told Rodney he was finding the extra training so exhausting that he limped back to their quarters most days, Rodney believed every word. He had seen John limp in. So Rodney had promised...no dom, no sub while the training went on. Hell, some days he felt like he didn't have a husband. Or that he had a zombie for a husband. So he backed away from John, and tried to be as supportive as he could.

But that still left Rodney in need. He wasn't about to renege on his promise. But he needed something so he didn't take from John what he wasn't able to give. 

So Rodney made some discreet inquiries into Atlantis' small BDSM community. He knew he wanted only sex and love from John. But submission he could get elsewhere. Hopefully it would sustain him for the next few weeks.

He found the person he was looking for: A quiet, unassuming sub named Mark. He looked like John. Dark hair, runner's body. But it wasn't too close a match. Rodney didn't want him too much like John.

Mark was one of the Marines, Rodney knew. He didn't care. He only needed one thing from the man.

Rodney took Mark to one of the unused labs in a corner barely anyone knew about. He told Mark to strip to his boxers. Then he grabbed a dusty chair, wiped it off and sat down. After taking a deep breath, he laid down the rules for Mark. "No sex, no bondage, no caressing. You are simply here to submit. You are a temporary replacement while my submissive is unavailable."

Mark agreed, as he agreed to a similar statement when he answered Rodney's email.

So Rodney had Mark get on his hands and knees. As if it was his right to do so, Rodney put his feet up on the man's back and read his email for an hour. But he couldn't help but feel guilty. John should have been there. But John needed to work. John needed his sleep. Right now, John didn't need him. So he coped the best he could. This hour with Mark was his way of coping.

He did have to make sure John was coping, too. So he made sure he tucked John in every night. Made sure he was eating something. Then went to meet Mark for an hour. Most often, he used the Marine as a footstool. But other times, he ordered him to sort things, fold his laundry, or even find the right DVD fot his next team movie night.

Did this help Rodney? It inched him into better control of his feelings. He was further from killing his minions than before Mark came along. But he felt crushing guilt evey time he went into that room. Because it should have been John there. Rodney knew he was riding the line between his needs and John's, but he didn't know what else to do.

The situation made him want to cry. But he persevered for awhile longer. A few months longer.

After a hard day in the lab about 2 months after the first 'date', Rodney sent Mark a request to meet him at 20:00 hours. Since it was such a tiring day, he decided to skip his daily check on John and just go to that remote room.

It was dark when he entered the room. Atlantis didn't raise the lights when he requested it. He swore softly. More work for tomorrow, he thought. He could make out Mark's outline from the fading light from the window, so he groped his way to where he knew the old, dusty chair was. But when he reached it, when he reached out, he felt the soft cushions of his chair from his quarters.

Startled, he fell into it.

As he straightened himself, he heard a soft voice called for lights. This time, they turned on.

He blinked as his eyes adjusted, then looked around the room.

There never had been more than a few chairs, a table, and a few stray artifacts in the room. Other than *his* chair, there were no additional objects.

But when it came to the people in the room, something had changed.

He could see Mark in his boxer shorts to his left, ready for any command he was given. That was completely normal.

But then he focused his eyes directly in front of him.

There, HIS sub, his husband, his soul kneeled naked, with his forehead touching the floor. Rodney could see the glint of the platinum collar he bought on John's neck.

Rodney let out a small gasp, oddly afraid that John was going to berate him for being here with Mark.

But John simply said, "I am here to serve you, Maitre."

With a small sob, Rodney reached down and pulled John into his arms, murmuring comforting nonsense as he did. A minute later, he was sobbing softly into John's neck.

John wrapped his arms around Rodney. Suddenly, Rodney's world righted itself. He clutched John harder and breathed, letting the frustration of the past two months melt away.

Neither of them heard Mark get dressed and leave with a smile on his face.


End file.
